at the mall with dedicated bargain hunters. can't believe they're not tired of shopping yet, cate. >> reporter: i guess not. they've really got all that energy, michelle. actually we started our coverage in the east bay where i saw one store open at 5 a.m. and there were shoppers out there even before that in the rain. she shoppers are back and -- the shoppers are back and it's beginning to look a lot li black friday. >> i'm not broke but i'm trying to get more stuff. >> reporter: cathy was outside this store in emeryville since 2 a.m. along with other diehards looking to cash in on post holiday deals. >> we came out to get $500 off h&m clothes but i actually got $50 off which is pretty good. >> reporter: the big discounts are back to keep buyers around as they kick unwanted gifts out. retail experts say 10 to 15% of christmas gifts will go back on

the store shelves. >> i'm returning some things that i don't need. >> reporter: shopper track reported shoppers spent $7.1 billion the day after christmas in 2011. but a recent report says this year's holiday sales are below expected numbers. now retailers hope post- christmas incentives can save the worst holiday shopping in four years. >> the retailers have deals going on in store anywhere from 30 to 60% off so that's amazing savings throughout the mall. and you know, shoppers have some money to spend. gift cards to spend. >> reporter: retailers say they see the boost from procrastinating holiday shoppers and people using those gift cards and exchanges to spend on themselves. >> black friday is our number one shopping day and this is number 2. there's going to be a tremendous amount of people out today looking to get special sales and discounts and to make their exchanges and spend their gift cards. >> reporter: now, according to a 2011 consumer reports poll,

one in 7 adults will be exchanging gifts. so there's basically -- they are not alone. there are a lot of people doing it. >> i know. i may have to return a few things, too. all right, cate, thanks so much. and some of those shoppers had to battle the rain this morning. this is a live look right now from our dublin cam of the you can see all those clouds there. and depending where you are, you're going to see showers. elizabeth wenger is keepi an "eye on the storm." >> you can see showers on our hi-def doppler. we are following a couple of cells now one over the south bay looking at heavier rain falling in parts of san jose, moderate to heavy showers. and look at this across the san mateo bridge, portions along the peninsula, 101 and 280 seeing some showers, as well. but then, we have also got blue skies so it's a mixed bag out there. this is what we've been dealing with throughout the morning and it's going to continue to look like this throughout the afternoon. temperatures in the low to mid- 50s. we'll have much more when we'll

dry out, a look at the seven- day forecast coming up. >> thank you. you can track the storm anytime with our live high-def doppler radar on our website, cbssf.com/weather. heavy rains mean worries for some people on the peninsula. they are preparing for more possible flooding along san fransesquito creek in east palo alto. the creek rows to its third highest level on sunday. crews from the conservation corps stacked sandbags on the levee that keeps water out of the gardens neighborhood. there's been some minor flooding. some homes were evacuated after water broke through the levee. >> kids didn't wake up in the morning thinking they are going to have to help their parents clean out their front yards and, you know, clean up the cars and they wanted to go outside and play with their gifts. >> people were forced out of one home that was deemed unsafe because water had got nene

electrical outlets. east palo alto says it's working on a long-term solution to the flooding and to increase the capacity of the creek. there's plenty of fresh snow in the sierra right now. in the past 4 hours there's been bumper-to-bumper traffic on interstate 80. chains are required for vehicles that do not have four- wheel drive and if you are wondering about the impact on water supplies, there's been a 140% increase in this year's snowpack. today is a moderate travel day at most of the nation's airports. but there are delays because of bad weather. we checked in with san francisco international airport just a short time ago. they say right now, flights to and from the new york region are delayed by up to an hour. that's because of a big storm hitting the northeast. that storm is packed with tornadoes and snow flurries. cbs reporter danielle nottingham tells us six deaths are blamed on this powerful system. >> reporter: the clean-up is beginning in the gulf states after a series of tornadoes hit on christmas day. >> whoa!

it's right here, it's right here! >> reporter: in mobile, alabama, twisters ripped roofs off homes and toppled trees in texas. in all, more than 100,000 are without power across most of the south. >> i was screaming and hollering, i mean, i was just scared to death. >> reporter: the national weather service recorded at least 34 tornadoes from texas to alabama. the same storm system is bringing snow to the midwest from oklahoma to pennsylvania. blizzard warnings are out from arkansas to maine. in indianapolis, white-out conditions are making driving treacherous. some areas saw more than a foot of the white stuff. the storm caused the cancellation of more than 500 flights on christmas. hundreds more are expected today. for victor cav layer row his flight back home to los angeles will have to wait. >> it got canceled so we got stuck for the day and we're not going to leave until 6:00 tomorrow p.m.

>> reporter: this storm is now headed east with snow, freezing rain and high winds. danielle nottingham, cbs news, reagan national airport, arlington, virginia. in new york, people are offering up their support to the families of the two firefighters killed in a setup by an ex-con. the flag outside of west webster fire department is at half-staff. fire commissioner william gross lost two of his friends. he says they were as prepared as they could have been to fight a fire but not an ambush. >> if you train and train to put the fire out, you never train to look left or right when you get out of the cab of a fire truck. >> one of the firefighters who was killed was a father of three and named firefighter of the year. the other a 19-year-old described as a leader in his own way. in southern california, a woman and boy were killed after a minivan they were in crashed with an suv police were trying to pull over christmas night on the 210 freeway in pasadena. before the crash, officers were

trying to pull the suv over for a traffic violation. but it took off. the four people in the suv suffered moderate injuries. they are all facing vehicular manslaughter charges. president obama is cutting short his vacation in hawaii to work on budget negotiations. mr. obama plans to leave hawaii late today and arrive in d.c. early tomorrow. he and members of congress are trying to find a way to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff." lawmakers will also be back in session on thursday without a deal by the end of the year automatic spending cuts and tax increases going into effect. starbucks is trying to do what it can to urge a "fiscal cliff" compromise. the coffee chain is asking employees at its cafes in the d.c. area to write the words "come together" on cups for the next two days. starbucks plans to continue the effort on social media. encouraging signs in the housing market. home prices rose in most major cities in october up more than 4% from a year earlier and

october was the fifth straight month of year-over-year gains. taking a look at the big board now, you can see that stocks are down today in a light trading session. you can see the dow is down about 9 points. a bay area family and the season of giving. how the kindness of strangers helped save a family's injured dog. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

donors for saving their dog. c-b-s-5 reporter christin ay a you can bay area couple is thanking -- a young bay area couple is thanking anonymous donors for saving their dog. christin ayers shows us how strangers saved the dog and the family's christmas. >> come on, babe. >> reporter: it was two weeks to christmas when nick and

lindsey anderson realized their dog escaped from the yard but they discovered when it came home hours later -- >> she started barking at the back door. and that's when we knew that she was hurt. she couldn't walk. she was dragging her paw. she was crying. >> reporter: shasta, doctors told him, had been hit by a car. her pelvis was broken in three places and surgery was going to cost $5,000. >> can't afford that. >> reporter: the andersons knew the only other option would be putting her down so they got on craigslist, hoping to find someone who could afford to take care of their dog. instead, they found a woman named mary. >> mary is an angel. >> guardian angel. >> reporter: who works to set up this fundraising site on giveforward.com. mary even spread the word on facebook urging total strangers to give money for shasta's surgery. >> one day it was at $720, the

next morning it was $1,300. almost doubled. >> just grateful. many of them are strangers. like somebody donated $500, somebody we don't even know. >> reporter: within four days the site are raise raised $3300 enough to operate before christmas. >> shasta, knock it off. >> reporter: andersons are still trying to raise the last $1,300 on giveforward.com but shasta is recovering. >> we're just grateful that there's people out there willing to give to a puppy. >> reporter: and that, they say, is priceless. in antioch, christin ayers, cbs 5. so glad shasta is doing well. >> such pretty eyes. >> beautiful. so we are going to get a break tomorrow, giveforward.com he is. >> we are going to get a break, yeah. we're tracking our cbs 5

exclusive hi-def doppler and if you are doing any traveling, you can see a heavy cell on 880 right there towards union city. but then a few miles away then all of a sudden you hit dry weather and blue skies in some places. this is a live look at our dublin cam. you can see some storm clouds still out there, really hit or miss depending where you're going today, unsettled throughout the afternoon. slight chance continues into the evening and we have a short dry break as michelle just mentioned tomorrow. enjoy it because it's not going to last. we have more showers coming our way at the very end of the workweek. so carry the umbrellas today. that's the main story. the cold front again continues to move farther inland but all this unsettled air continues to hover over the bay area. so we're timing it out with futurecast right knew. things start to clear out

overnight and we are looking at pretty much dry skies all across the bay area and continues into thursday morning. that winter weather alert if you are doing any traveling by the sierra they have extended that now until with 11:00 tonight. carry your chains. they have been getting a ton of snow up to two feet in just the last 24 hours or so. your forecasted highs for later on this afternoon, it's a cold day all across the bay area. we are only reaching the mid- 50s and that's in the warmest spots. we are not going to budge much farther than that. 54 in fremont. 53 in fairfield. only 52 degrees your forecasted high in santa rosa. overnight lows again going to be cool, 30s in some places, mid-40s. 41 oakland. 38 in fremont. so here's your forecast over the next several days. this is going to be our wet day unsettled weather continuing until dark. and then things clear out of here and then thursday, that is our dry break. friday into saturday, that's when the unsettled weather

comes back. chance of rain continues through saturday about midday. and then sunday through new year's day actually looks like dry weather. yeah, for new year's eve. if you are doing any skiing towards the sierra, pack your chains because they got some good ski conditions. chance of more snow saturday over at alpine meadows. they have about 16" there. about a foot of new snow over at heavenly. they have 27 lifts ready to go open to the public. northstar more snow saturday and they have good powder with 18 lifts open to the public. >> i love skiing so fresh powder, that's great. >> get you up to tahoe. >> we should. got to get you up there. thank you. all year long they make a difference in our community. how you can learn about all the jefferson award winners later tonight. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

award winners. and with the economy as tough as it is, tonight is special. we'll be broadcasting our annual special on the 2012 jefferson awards winners and with the economy as tough as it is, this year's show will focus on those winners whose projects specialize in job training and workplace skills. kate kelly joins us know with a preview. thanks so much for joining us on the show today. >> reporter: great. >> all right. so tell us about some of the people in tonight's show. >> as you said we're foxing this year because the economy we thought we would focus on

some of the programs that our jefferson award winners this past year started that help with job skills and often give help to people who are overcoming challenges like oh, addiction and homelessness and a program that helps kids. a south bay chef betty ewing has started going into high schools about 10 years ago finding teenagers who may not be inspired in the classroom but getting them after school job training at really nice astronauts. and the they get to be sous- chefs and get a paycheck and many of the kids say they weren't going anywhere in high school now have focused and they have gone on to do great things. so that's one of my favorites you'll meet tonight. >> what inspires these people to do this kind of public service? >> some of them have personal stories or stories that have touched their lives that gets them to get off the couch and

make the community better be they all share one thing in common, they're so reluctant to go on tv. they don't want the publicity. they do it because they felt it was the right thing to do. and that part of it is really inspiring. >> you know, you do such a great job reporting on this. what is your favorite part? >> oh, my gosh. well, you know, when you do the news for many years and i have done it for many years here, sometimes the news is not the most inspiring thing to do because that's the nature of it but of the jefferson awards really do -- they help me feel bet ber my community and it gives me a chance to highlight some of the good work that's being done out there. so it really is a fabulous program. we do 52 a year. >> that's amazing. i know. okay. the most important question, how can people nominate someone for a jefferson award? >> we couldn't do this if it wasn't for the public and we really ask that you -- if you know someone in your community that maybe should get some recognition, you think they're dog a good job, you go to our website, cbssf.com, and then

you click on jefferson awards. and there is a button that says nominations. so you can go there, do it electronically, nominate someone. tell their story about them, because we read through these stories with a steering committee of people made up, they are all from the non- profit world so they help us kind of choose people who best exemplify the jefferson award ideals. so please, if you know someone we would love a nomination. >> yes. we need your help. all right, kate, thank you so much. and remember, tonight's jefferson awards special airs at 7:00 right here on cbs 5. who knew they were such sticklers? how a mispronounced word on the wheel of fortune cost one woman the entire game. [ female announcer ] this is a special message from at&t.

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thousands of dollars on thee show "wheel of fortune".. what are we making today? [ non-english language ] because you know how much you love burrata. it's an open faced burrata sandwich with like an egg plant salad on top of it. >> the eggplant absorbed so much. you cook it in a lot of oil. and then you have to drain it very carefully. okay. steph, what do we do next? >> this is a salad to put the cold eggplant on top of it. and then we are going to add kalimata olives. remember to slice these so you don't bite into the seed. >> i bought them with the seeds in it. almost bit into it. then walnuts? >> add them in too. >> tell me when. >> that looks good. and this is our little fresh bowl. fresh salad and mint. i love cooking with mint and cheese because it's creamy and

fresh, great dimension. and then this is our little vinaigrette. it's lemon juice and olive oil, salt and pepper and that's it. there's your salad. >> now mix it around a little bit and what we got here, mix this little bit. what i'm going to do is put some of the olive oil on the burrata. put it on there. look how delicious and simple this is. thank you. it's a beautiful thing. back to you guys. they're going to love it. >> i already love it and i'm not evening tasting it. i don't know about this next story. she was on a roll towards thousands of dollars on the game show wheel of fortune until a slip of the tongue cost her everything. renee was on the show last week and had the answer to the word puddle. it was seven swans a-swimming but when renee gave her answer she mispronounced the last word leaving the g off, of swimming so she said "swimmin." the judges ruled it wrong and

the opponent won but renee isn't upset. >> they have to protect against regional dialects and so i should have been more straight line in my enunciation of the phrase. i still watch the show every night. i still love it. i still support it. it's been great. but i don't harbor any grunges. >> she is not bit ber it that's good. former wheel contestants say before show tapings they are told answers must be read exactly to be connect. there's an online push to get her back on the show. see you at 5:00 and 6:00. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com ,,,,

[ indistinct conversations ] >> pam: um, you don't think that maybe there's a few too many red ones? >> kristen: what? red is a great christmas color, pam. >> pam: okay. >> felicia: where is dad's famous high-test eggnog when we need it? >> thorne: oh, come on. you know this can't be easy for her without mother. >> felicia: where is the father of us all, anyway? >> thorne: i don't know. >> kristen: ask rick. maybe he knows. [ birds chirping ]